In the manufacture of a vehicle tire, an uncured, or “green” tire is typically assembled and placed inside of a tire mold. The tire mold may comprise various mold segments and/or components oriented adjacent to one another and configured to create the outside dimensions, patterns, markings, etc. of the cured tire.
Tire molds are typically oriented within an outer ring of a mold container during curing of the tire. Molds within an outer ring are traditionally configured to fit within the outer ring with a high degree of precision. As a result, molding differing sizes of tires (for example, tires of differing outside diameters) typically require not only different sets of molds, but also different outer rings.
Often, however, specific tires are only built on a limited basis (e.g., experimental tires) and the cost of manufacturing a separate outer ring for each tire size/model far exceeds the value. What is needed is an adjustable tire mold capable of utilizing a single outer ring for a variety of tire sizes and/or models.